The 17th Cup
by platarozaluna
Summary: A Miego story that spans from their first meeting to what happened after Diego was poisoned. How did their relationship begin? Diego Armando and Mia Fey's journey from rivals to passionately in love as they begin to see their pain mirrored in the other.
1. Chapter 1: I'm Not Working with You

After:

_Mia gently brushed a stray strand of hair out of Diego's eye. "Please wake up for me, baby. I miss you," she said, before bending over to lightly kiss his forehead. This had become her daily routine. Go to work, visit Diego, go back to the office. "I know that one day you're going to open those dark beautiful eyes of yours and come back to me," she whispered intimately to him, wondering briefly if he could even hear her. "I love you, Diego," she said. Then, she softly kissed his lips before leaving the hospital room.  
_  
Before:

-4 years earlier-

Mia Fey made her way hurriedly down the sidewalk comparing the addresses of the buildings to the one on the sheet of paper in her hand. "Grossberg Law Offices..." she murmured under her breath, as she looked for her new place of employment. In her distracted state, she bumped into a man walking up the sidewalk from the other direction.

"You know," he said. "You really should watch where you're going-reading and walking, not a very good combination now, is it?" He appeared to be Hispanic. He had long black hair slicked back and a goatee. He was wearing a very western looking vest and carrying a large portable coffee cup.

"I'm sorry...I'm just a bit lost," she replied apologetically, for she noticed that she'd caused some of the coffee to spill on his vest. He saw that she was looking.

"It's not a big deal, but perhaps I can set you on your way," he said with a note of smugness. Cocky asshole...thought Mia.

"I'm looking for Grossberg Law Offices, I'm an attorney," she said, thinking that would put him in his place. She thought wrong.

"That's funny. I'm the senior defense attorney at Grossberg Law Offices, you wouldn't happen to be the new rookie that was supposed to start today, are you? Because I think you're working under me. Are you Mia Fey?" he asked. Nononono...I can't work under him, I've been around him five minutes and I'm already ready to slap that stupid smirk off his face, thought Mia. She nodded slowly, lips pursed at her terrible luck.

"Welcome to the office," he said pointing to the tall building in front of them. 1 elevator ride with Asshole later, brought Mia to a fourth floor office with a polished gold plaque out front that read "Grossberg Law Offices" The office itself seemed to scream "I have money to spend!" the glossy mahogany floor was covered with oriental rugs and the caramel coloured walls were decorated with expensive looking paintings. A portly older man with a mustache in a dark brown business suit emerged from an oak door across the room. She assumed him to be Mr. Grossberg himself.

"Hello, m'dear," he said, extending a hand, which Mia promptly shook. "Welcome to the defense team, I see you've met -he's going to be your mentor," Grossberg said indicating Arrogant Asshole, who was sitting at a majestic oak desk in front of a window filling out what looked like legal briefs.

"Yes," she replied stiffly, unable to hide the annoyance in her voice.

"I understand he may seem cocky, even to the point of jerky-but I assure you, he's actually a charming young fellow. You just need to open up to him. He's a tortured soul, you'll be good for him, just give him a chance, okay m'dear?" Mia nodded reluctantly before being shown her new desk, which was, to her dismay, directly next to Mr. Armando's. Watching them later, Mr. Grossberg thought that no better pairing could have been made. "They're perfect for other," he murmured before heading back into his office.


	2. Chapter 2: Turnabout Familial

**A/N: Well…it's certainly been awhile, but since it's President's Day, I'm going to try and upload to all of my stories. More reviews would certainly give me the motivation *hint* *hint* *nudge* *nudge***

After: _Mia sat by Diego's bedside once more, his limp hand gripped tightly in her own. "You have to make it through this, for me. I can't live my life without you in it, you're one of those people you only meet once in a lifetime," she whispered soothingly as she rubbed his hand, as if keeping it warm would bring him back to her. It was a weak action, but it kept the small glimmer of faith alive for her and she new that the minute she lost faith, would be the minute he never woke up.  
_

Before:

"You two have a client in the next room," Mr. Grossberg announced.

"What's the case?" asked Armando while Mia internally processed the fact that she would actually have to work with him. For the first couple of weeks, he'd done nothing but give her legal briefs to fill out while he went out on cases, but Mr. Grossberg said he wanted Mia to have some courtroom experience, as Diego's subordinate. "Come, my subordinate,"he smiled cockily and she responded with an eyeroll.

"He's been accused of murdering an elderly woman," Grossberg said gravely. Mia tried to hide her shocked, disgusted expression seeing as the other two didn't seem fazed. They started down to the detention center to interview him.

"Hi, umm...I'm Mia and this is Mr. Armando, my...mentor," Mia said hesitantly to the man on the other side of the glass.

"Armando?" he smirked.

"Heard of me?" Diego asked curiously.

"Heard you're damn good. Are you taking my case or is your...apprentice?"

"I will, don't worry. I'm just letting her question you, she needs the experience and it'll make her feel useful," Armando replied wearing the pompous expression that Mia hated. She scowled and muttered,

"Just because I'm better at getting statements than you..."

"What?"

"Nothing."

The defendants name was Redd White and he'd been accused of murdering a Mrs. Leticia Santos at her Los Angeles apartment. He, however, argued that the other man who had been staying with her, her 20-year-old son, had killed his mother. Redd White argued that he'd simply been on an insurance consultant call. "We need to question the son," said Mia after White went in for questioning.

"Done. He's on his way here in a police transport vehicle as we speak," replied Diego.

"You got him INCARCERATED?"

"Reasonable suspicion in the murder of Leticia Santos, it pays to have connections, my young friend." Asshole. 


	3. Chapter 3: The Phantom of the Courtroom

**A/N: I kind of have to introduce an OC to connect this story to my other one. If you like her, read my story What I've Done =) **

"Mia, I'd like to introduce you to an acquaintance of mine, she's cooperated with the police a lot recently, and I like to turn to her when I take a new case to see what my chances are," Diego said.

"So you'll only take a case if you think you're going to definitely win? That's not shady at all…" Mia muttered under her breath as Diego conversed with the rather strange figure in front of them. They were back at the office waiting for the questioning of the twenty-year-old son to be finished so that they could go back to the detention center and question him. She appeared to be about Mia's age or maybe a little younger and had long wavy red hair running down her back. She didn't appear to be in the legal profession at all, or at least, she wasn't dressed for it—she was wearing gray jeans and a dark colored tube top with a skull on the front and bright red pumps. Mia thought it was kind of amusing how this girl seemed to be flirting mercilessly with the senior defense attorney. _Haha, real funny, you don't have a chance_…she thought privately.

"Who exactly are you?" she asked. The woman turned around to reveal a pair of bright green eyes and razor-sharp teeth currently flashing a smug grin.

"Mia—this is my old friend Phantom, Phantom—this is Mia Fey, my subordinate," he said, gallantly introducing the two women with a sweep of his arm.

"Your name…is Phantom?" Mia interjected in a questioning tone.

"Well of course not," Phantom replied snarkily.

"Then, what is—"Mia started to ask, but Diego cut her off.

"Not so fast, claws away, Kitten—I've been trying to glean that little tidbit of information for the past several years, to no avail."

Mia scoffed angrily. How dare he call her Kitten like she was some sort of pet?

"Enough of the show, Diego, we have a case to work. You don't have time to socialize with old friends," Mia reminded him in a slightly threatening undertone. What did she care, anyway? It didn't matter, really. The more he slacked off, the more she got to prove herself to Grossberg that she was perfectly capable of handling her own cases without her _mentor_. "Phantom" smirked devilishly and gave a small laugh that sounded more like a cackle.

"Okay, well you have to go back to work, I'll see what I can do about your case. Bye, Godo!" she said with a half smile and enveloped him in a hug before leaving the office as the sunlight from the window reflected off of the onyx stone on the right side of her nose. Mia couldn't help the smirk that spread across her face.

"Well, _Godo, _are you going to tell me who exactly that was, or rather how she helps your cases?"

Diego rolled his eyes before continuing. "Since you'll be working under me, I suppose I should explain since you may be seeing a lot of her around. Well, currently, she's in her final year of college…and, well…I don't know how familiar you are with the concept of spirit channeling, but Phantom is the real deal. She can channel victims and find out information about who killed them. Then, I know if I'm about to save an innocent man or pardon a guilty one," he explained and Mia fiddled with her Magatama necklace nervously. _He thinks I don't know spirit channeling? Does he know who I am? _

"Are the two of you…romantically involved?" Mia asked hesitantly trying to divert the topic from spirits. She had left that life behind.

"No," Diego replied shortly.

"Seems a bit high-strung, to say the least,"

"Yeah. She's a wild mare, alright," Diego murmured, staring intently into his coffee cup for a moment before meeting Mia's eyes once more. "We should go interview the son."

**A/N: Isn't it awesome that I incorporated the OC from my other Diego Armando story into this? Now they're joined. I feel accomplished lol please review aka make me feel loved =)**


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